Good morning. The
newsletter is going out early this week, and a bit shorter than normal - I'm
about to head out the door and off to lovely
Sol Duc Resort in the
Olympic National Park, for a long weekend. Their cabins are spartan,
but the hot pools are wonderful and a rare thing in the US, and the natural
surroundings absolutely idyllic. A recommended spot if you find
yourself in the Pacific Northwest with a spare day or two.

Special Mileage Deal!

Star Alliance is celebrating its
fifth anniversary. If you fly on any five of their member
carriers during the fifty five days between 14 May - 7 July, you'll
get a bonus 55,555 frequent flier miles in addition to the miles you
earn from your flights. At 2c or more a mile, this is
conservatively worth $1100 to you!

Air Fare Guru David Smith urgently
put together a website full
of clever ways to qualify for these miles at lowest cost and with the
fewest number of flights. Check it out - this is one of these
rare but celebrated events whereby clever people can spend less money
than the value of the mileage bonus they then get!

David Smith is a travel agent in
BC, and the information on his website mentioned in the box above is a
conclusive example of how a good travel agent can be of invaluable
assistance. Which leads me to this week's column :

This Week's
Column: Internet vs Travel
Agencies : Who
hasn't heard someone proudly claiming 'I got the ticket cheaper on the
internet'. But, cheaper than what? And, was it the best possible
price? Here are fourteen tips for how to find the lowest air fare; but
after reading them, you might perhaps decide that it is better - much better
- to simply have a travel agent do the work for you!

The airline market
continues to change in Europe. No-frills carrier Ryanair
announced that in the twelve months to March 2002, its passenger numbers
increased from 8.1 to 11.1 million, and its profits were up a massive 44% to
$142 million! At the same time, the two soon to be merged UK budget
carriers, Go and easyJet also reported impressive increases in their May
passenger numbers - Go up 89% and easyJet up 43%! Ryanair is now
publicly stating a goal to become the largest carrier in Europe.
Meanwhile, the established carriers still prefer to pretend to ignore such
airlines as being 'unworthy' competitors, although BA, in severe financial
trouble, is now reducing a lot of its European fares in an attempt to
reclaim business that it is currently losing to these other carriers.

But it isn't always easy selling
cheap airfares! China's ban on discount air fares is now to be
toughened up and enforced by police. The government has authorized local government police and other agencies
to crackdown on the sale of cheap tickets, according to the Shanghai Morning
Post. Under the ban, made by the country's Civil Aviation Authority, ticket
agents and airlines will be held legally responsible if they are caught
giving discounts or other perks.

The newspaper said that three
Chinese government departments - the Aviation
Authority, the Administration of Taxation and the Industrial and Commercial
Administration - now require local government police, price and tax bureaus,
industrial and commercial bureaus and civil aviation administration
departments to make sure the ban is strictly enforced. Airlines have been told that if they are paid less than the full value of
a ticket, or give perks to passengers in the form of cash, tokens or
receipts, they will be in breach of the discount ban. Frequent flyers can, however, breathe a sigh of relief as airlines are
still being allowed to hand out air miles.

Troubled British Airways
(they lost $292 million in their last financial year) has come up with a new
way to 'save money'. In the UK (not yet in the US) they announced that
they will now charge corporate accounts that they have extended discount
'net' fares to a 2% surcharge if those companies wish to charge their
tickets to a credit card. American Express has responded by claiming
that BA is breaching its merchant agreement and threatening to withdraw BA's
merchant status for all tickets! BA has now responded to Amex's threat
by filing suit (in New York) to prevent Amex from canceling its merchant
account.

Many industry observers have
been predicting that the airlines would restrict their credit card
acceptance policies - this move on BA's part could have significant
implications for the rest of the world. Stay tuned for the resolution
of this issue.

This Week's Security Horror
Story : Not sure if this is security related or not, but it sure
is a horror story! Many thanks to reader Gina from Teplis Travel
Service who provided this unbelievable tale.

One of my Delta Platinum members made a one day round trip from
Jacksonville, Florida to
Chicago (change in Atlanta, of course).
On the return, at 4.45pm the weather was getting iffy in Atlanta, but the
pilot decided to take off anyway.

Not able to land in Atlanta he headed west... for four hours!!!... almost to
Denver... before heading south. Almost out of fuel; had to land in Memphis.

Now, Mr. Platinum was dealing with this... knowing full well he would
probably miss his connection to JAX while they refueled, found another
flight crew to replace the poor weary ones who made the decision to take off
from Midway.

However, two poor fellow travelers were in a pickle. Their final destination
was... you guessed it... Memphis. Although now parked at the gate in
Memphis, the flight attendants refused to let them
off the plane.

Using their cell phone they called Delta Operations in Atlanta who agreed
they should be allowed off the plane (especially since they had no checked
luggage) since Delta would just have to pay for an overnight hotel in Atlanta
due to them having now missed their Atlanta connection on to Memphis.
Atlanta tried to call the crew on the plane to tell them this... they
refused to take the calls.

Travelers explained that they were going to miss the last connection from
ATL to MEM and Delta would have to put them up for the night in ATL. The
flight attendants told him that it was a weather problem so he would have to
pay his own hotel.

Has the stress caused all airline personnel lose their collective minds?

Lastly this week, thanks (yet
again) to Pat Funk, editor of ARTA's daily email newsletter and an
invaluable source of many of my items here. Pat provided this item in
a recent issue.

World Cup visitors are being wowed by
the most beautiful toilets in the world. Imagine hearing strains of Vivaldi's Four Seasons float through the perfumed air, poetry and framed landscapes adorn the pristine walls and the windows offer panoramic views of the city skyline. Welcome to Fine View Toilet - one of about 30 institutions designated as a Beautiful Toilet by the city fathers of
Suwon, Korea, a city hosting some of the World Cup games. The Suwon World Cup Guide declares "The public toilets of Suwon City turn into the most clean and comfortable places of speculation and rest, display, rendezvous, recreation of energy in the world." The guide devotes a section to "A
City with the most beautiful public toilets in the world." It comes with
photos of the city's best restrooms. Three restrooms are included on all guided city bus tours. Suwon's Beautiful Toilet campaign was initiated in 1997 when the city knew it would host some of the games. A tour of Suwon is
the highlight of the World Toilet Organizations Congress later this year.

Until next week, please
enjoy safe travels, and, while you're enjoying a 'comfortable place for a
few moments of speculation and rest', reflect on this number plate seen on a
van outside a day care center - PPB4UGO!

David M Rowell aka The Travel Insider

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